John Lago is an assassin disguised as an intern. Interns are invisible, and that makes it the best costume for an assassin. He has been doing this forJohn Lago is an assassin disguised as an intern. Interns are invisible, and that makes it the best costume for an assassin. He has been doing this for years now, and he's in his last mission. He's planning of retiring, and his last mission is not the easiest one of all.
This was a mixture of craziness and awesome action. It was really hard to like during the first part, but once I've grown to like the main character, the novel was very fast paced. In a way, it was a simple story, but there were a lot of plot twists near the end. Only one really struck me as a really good one, but most of them were really good nonetheless. I just didn't see those things happening. I was fixated on certain things happening, so when I didn't get what I was expecting, I realized how good this novel was. Most crime novels are predictable, but this one proved itself otherwise. Not the best crime novel I've read, but I can add it to one of my favorites in that genre.
Romance in this genre is very evident already, but it takes a good novel for the romance to feel real and not forced. John and Alice were a fun read. They reminded me of a lot of strong couples in movies who you know would work out in the end, no matter what.
As for the main plot, all I can say is that it delivered. It promised a handbook containing his last mission, and it really did. His life story was a short but fun read. Sometimes I wonder if I would make a good assassin or detective, because their field of work just interests me a lot. Don't worry though, I probably wouldn't end up as one. It also contained a lot of medical jargons that I enjoyed a lot. And the precision of how he killed the ones he was supposed to, and then explaining what would happen next was a great thing to read.
4.5/5 stars. The only thing that ruined this novel would be that terrible ending. If it weren't for that, this might have had made it to my favorites list. When I saw the book cover, and read the synopsis on the dust jacket while I was at my local bookstore, I knew I was going to enjoy this novel. It was a short but fast paced crime book. Highly recommended. I can't wait for the sequel to come out soon....more
**spoiler alert** The war for the survival of the planet Lusitania will be fought in the heart of a child named gloriously bright.
Says the cover. Such**spoiler alert** The war for the survival of the planet Lusitania will be fought in the heart of a child named gloriously bright.
Says the cover. Such a misleading thing to say. This novel was 500 pages of bullshit, and 91 pages of slight enjoyment. More or less 81.8% of useless shit.
Nominated for the Hugo award? Thank heavens it didn't win.
I loved Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead, but Xenocide was just bullshit. It even felt like Card didn't write this. How could he create amazing characters, and manage to make them lifeless all of a sudden? I didn't feel any kind of connection with any of the characters in this third novel. To make things worse, this novel is way too long. 591 pages, rambling on about uninteresting stuff.
The main goal of this novel I believe was to keep things interesting by introducing another possibility of a "xenocide", but all it did was introduce another set of alien species that are not even likeable. They were flat and unrelatable. I'm chinese, and I couldn't even relate to the characters. They were written that bad. I even had to check the front cover to see if Card wrote this alone. Unbelievable how much I hated this novel.
The list of annoying things does not end. Card made the characters seem like they were trying to be like Ender a lot. Miro, Grego, and Wang-mu were all pretentious in this novel. They were trying too hard to be likeable, but they seemed like losers. Especially Wang-mu, and the twist that Card wrote in the near end about her was not even good. She was not a likeable character from the start, so relentlessly trying to make her likeable is not going to work. You might ask, who could be more annoying than Wang-mu? Qing-jao. Another pretentious little bitch. All her whining from the start annoyed me already. I got it the first time, you don't want the life that you were given, so stop whining about it every fucking time you appear in a chapter.
Ender himself was fucking unbearable in this novel. I saw this coming already, but Card just made it worse.
"Ela, after you've inadvertently killed a couple of people with your bear hands, either you learn to control your temper or you lose your humanity."
You killed people with your bear hands? You fucking killed an entire species, shouldn't that be the cause of your "losing of humanity"? Terrible example given, and I thought you were supposed to be the amazing speaker of the dead/murderer of the buggers. And up to now, I still can't believe that he married Novinha. She was fucking crazy right from the start.
The plot itself ventured off a cliff. Instead of focusing on the main story, it focused on the art of whining instead. We get more of scrubbing grease off hands, Miro's paralysis, Ender's marriage, and Novinha's family problem rather than the fucking possibility of a Xenocide. Let me add the constant whining of everyone regarding Jane's "humanity". I don't give a rat's ass who created her, please talk about the fucking Xenocide instead. Based on the summary at the back, this should've been the best of the 3. Instead, I'm considering giving up on the whole series because of this being such a bullshit novel. Once I've calmed down though, I believe I'll be reading the next novel.
1.5/5 stars. I gave this 2 stars because I still have an ounce of mercy left in my system. Card could've done better, and he already proved that with the first two novels. I'm not sure what happened here, but I'm hoping the next novel wouldn't be this bad.
This novel should be called "The Art of Whining" and not "Xenocide"....more
A gruesome murder comes along, and Harry Dresden's expertise is needed. A brutally mutilated corpse. Strange-looking paw prints. A full moon.
I really A gruesome murder comes along, and Harry Dresden's expertise is needed. A brutally mutilated corpse. Strange-looking paw prints. A full moon.
I really liked the first book of the series, and I was expecting a lot more from this. The premise screams werewolves, and that's actually my favorite supernatural creature. Werewolves are badass and ruthless, but once again, Butcher had his own take on the supernatural. He sort of mellowed it down, and made it more realistic. I don't hate his imaginative take on supernatural creatures, but I like gut wrenching action. This lacked the action that it needed, and the plot seems a bit mediocre.
I wanted more of Dresden and Murphy, but right from the start of the novel Murphy already shunned Dresden. We get a bit more of Susan here, but I don't foresee me growing on Susan. The main antagonist here wasn't as amazing as the one from the first novel. He wasn't brutal and merciless. I had high expectations from werewolves, but I ended up disappointed in the end.
The plot itself was not as interesting as I wanted it to be. I wasn't bored, but I wasn't blown away either. With a premise consisting of werewolves, this novel should've been a lot better. The new take on werewolves created by Butcher was not that bad, but not that cool either. I don't see it as something that would become a main thing, in the supernatural genre. It's just so mellowed down that I didn't enjoy it that much.
3/5 stars. Everything felt mediocre, but I'm still dedicated on continuing with the series. I already own book 3, and I already ordered books 4-9. As mediocre as this novel may be, this series is still slowly becoming one of my favorites....more
Update 2015: I heard they're developing this into a "limited" TV Series! Can't wait to watch it! Here's the link
A psycho-madman with a Mercedes ran ovUpdate 2015: I heard they're developing this into a "limited" TV Series! Can't wait to watch it! Here's the link
A psycho-madman with a Mercedes ran over a crowd of unemployed people resulting to 8 deaths and 15 injuries. He escapes. Months later, Bill Hodges, the lead detective, is still having nightmares about the crime incident. He contemplates suicide, and watches a lot of TV shows with his gun on his lap. Out of the blue, he receives a letter from the psycho-madman, and then the story of cat and mouse chase begins.
I think I can say that I wasn't biased with the rating. I'm not ashamed to say that Stephen King is my favorite author of all time, but I disregarded that thought while deciding the rating. Not his best work, but still satisfactory overall.
We all know that King is the king of horror, but I think this is his first genuine crime novel. A lot of people were bewaffled and curious of how the outcome would be. I'm one of the few who didn't really doubt the King, but I'll be completely honest and say that I'm not entirely impressed with the novel.
The premise is actually really interesting. Someone running over people, with no sense of regrets, that's something interesting to read about. I was expecting a lot more gruesome things to happen in the novel, because the beginning was good. I bought the book without even reading the summary at the back though, but it's a King novel, why would you need to do that.
The characters were really great, just like most of King's characters. Unforgettable? Not really. I didn't like Bill Hodges as much as I wanted to. He's a 64-year old retired cop who acts like he's in his 40s. He was unnaturally strong for his age. He's my least favorite of the main characters, but not to an extent of disliking him. Jerome and Brady are my two favorites in this novel. Jerome just brought out the humor this novel kind of needed. His natural wittiness and attitude brought the novel alive. Brady is probably the weakest main villain King has written (of his books I've read), but he was still really enjoyable. I like those psychologically damaged characters who are funny because of their craziness. Brady was funny in this novel, but a mastermind criminal? Nope. His emotional issues interfered with his psychological craziness capabilities. But like I said, he was great and humor filled in this novel.
My main problem with this novel would be the outcome of the plot. The ending was terrible. It was so cliche that I kinda got annoyed. With endless possibilities of what Brady could do, King chose to write a bit of a cliche. I get that most crime novels are cliche, but he chose one of the bad cliches. That's the reason why I rated this with a 4, and not a 5. The novel was filled with more drama than action. I don't necessarily mind that, but an explosive good ending would've made up for that. I like character driven novels as much as the next guy, but I also need that major plot twist that would leave my mouth hanging open for a few seconds. His other novels managed to do that, but this one is a little bit lacking.
His usual alternating chapters never fails to impress me, and this is not an exception. I really find it entertaining, reading about what the hero wants to do, while the villain plans on his next master plan. Great technique by King that I enjoy a lot.
Aside from the bad ending and not so thrilling plot, I still found this enjoyable. His characters were filled with humor and were really likeable for me. Not his strongest novel, but still worth checking out. 4/5 stars, and now on to the next King novel. ...more
Odd Thomas is a 20-year old fry cook, and he can see dead people. It's either a gift or a curse. In less than twenty-four hours, Pico Mundo will awakeOdd Thomas is a 20-year old fry cook, and he can see dead people. It's either a gift or a curse. In less than twenty-four hours, Pico Mundo will awaken to a day of catastrophe, and it's up to Odd to try and prevent it.
The thing with this novel is that the plot was terribly slow. Koontz served up a lot of character building, a lot being the first 1/3 of the novel. That is pretty normal, but the result should be satisfactory. While I am really liking Odd as a character, I just don't see him as a 20 year old kid. He seemed like someone who's 30+ years old. He seemed to have so much knowledge crammed in his 20 year old brain. It's just not normal. I'm 19 years old, and I don't think like he does. He was planning marriage as soon as possible, and that is really not normal. Stormy was also quite unrealistic. I don't see why she keeps up with Odd, to be honest. I didn't hate her as a character, but I didn't like her much, compared to other lover of the main character characters.
Like I said the plot was slow, and at the time wherein it improved, it was still lacking. This is shelved as horror, and 1018 people contributed to that happening. I don't see this as horror at all. Paranormal maybe, because of the ghosts, but even the possibility of the things that happened in the novel happening in real life is quite unlikely. I liked the whole I can talk to ghosts thing Koontz made, but it hasn't grown on me yet. This is the first novel though, and I'm expecting the next one to be a huge improvement.
Whenever I ask people to recommend another author who is quite similar to my favorite, Stephen King, the immediate answer would be Dean Koontz. He does write horror books, and a lot of paranormal ones too, but if I were to judge that comparison based on Odd Thomas, I would honestly say that I can't see the similarities. Koontz writes a lot of info dumps, and takes forever to make the reader like the character/s(for me). I keep hearing amazing things about his other novels though, so I might have to give those a try before concluding. The first novel of his that I've read was not the best, but I'm not giving up on the author, and the series.
3/5 stars. Mediocre plot and quite likeable but unrealistic characters. I'm hoping to have a better opinion and experience with the second novel....more
I've been a huge fan of James Bond ever since Casino Royale(2006) was shown in theatres. I remember watching it with my family and my dream then was tI've been a huge fan of James Bond ever since Casino Royale(2006) was shown in theatres. I remember watching it with my family and my dream then was to become just like James Bond. I watched all the Bond movies that Daniel Craig starred in ever since that Royale movie. I haven't seen the older ones though, and I heard that this novel is similar to the older movies, and thankfully I haven't seen those.
There's this scene in this novel wherein the villain tortured Bond by repeatedly striking his manhood, and I'm 100% sure that that scene is present in either Casino Royale or Quantum of Solace (more or less Royale). While reading the novel, I imagined Bond as Craig, and I don't think I can ever imagine him as someone else.
The novel itself is very short, but substance filled. Is that a thing? Substance filled. I really enjoyed it, and it brought back a lot of memories. Not that much action I guess, but this is Bond, and I'm pretty biased about him. Deep inside, I'm sure I'd still want to be a spy if given the chance. I almost forgot, this novel explained why Bond got the 007 status, been wondering my whole life. Not sure if they told it in the movies, but I was 8 years old when I watched it, so I can't really remember much.
Before I conclude, let me just say that the movies were not particular about Bond's vices/habits(?). He likes to smoke 70 cigarettes a day, take cold baths, and collect cool cars. I'm a huge car enthusiast, I hate cold baths, and I don't smoke, but one day, I still believe that I'll be just like James Bond.
I'm a huge crime-mystery-thriller fan, and I'm a huge Bond fan, so this novel was quite enjoyable for me. I've been deciding between 4 or 5 stars, but I believe I didn't find any flaws that bothered me that much. Like I said though, I'm really biased when it comes to Bond. 5/5 stars, and I can't seem to not add this to my favorites list. Read this if you want a short but satisfying crime novel. ...more
Peter Grant dreams of becoming a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. Being granted the dreadful assignment of Case Progression Unit, Grant did Peter Grant dreams of becoming a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. Being granted the dreadful assignment of Case Progression Unit, Grant did everything he could so that he may be promoted to detective. His uncanny ability of seeing ghosts was his ticket to his dream. Brutal murders lurk in the city and the gods apparently meddles too.
Peter Grant was really likeable, but only during the first half of the novel. I got bored after about 50% because nothing grand was happening. Nothing gruesome, or big enough to capture my attention. The murders were mediocre and the other characters were also mediocre. Nightingale was a delight to read, but aside from Grant and Nightingale, there were no other good characters. The setting was great, but it really lacked action. This first novel felt more like an introduction to the characters and the setting, so hopefully the sequel would be a lot better than this.
3.5/5 stars. I honestly liked the Dresden Files more, but I heard that this series improves along the way. This was not bad, don’t get me wrong, but it could’ve been way better. ...more
Dark Screams is a collection of short stories from various authors. One of those authors would be Stephen King, and I received an arc from Netgalley
Dark Screams is a collection of short stories from various authors. One of those authors would be Stephen King, and he's one of my favorites. I tried my best not to be biased about the novel just because he wrote one of the short stories, and in the end, his story was not even my favorite of them all.
There were 5 short stories, and 4 of them were really great short reads. The only bad one would be The Watched. I didn't enjoy it at all. Flat characters and boring plot. My favorite though would have to be Murder in Chains. It was the most exciting one and I even felt sorry for the main character. The other 3 were also good reads. This would be the very first "anthology" that I really enjoyed. I can't wait for volume 2 [if ever there will be one].
Short stories are the hardest to review, and I decided not to do an in depth review of each one. All you have to know is that this felt more like a thriller than horror. I still haven't read a novel that can garner the title of horror. 4/5 stars, because I hated the last story, and I can't really push myself to give this one a 5. It was not as astounding as I was hoping, but it was still a great read nonetheless. ...more
Quite weird that this turned out way better than the second novel, considering that this is just a novella. Makes me want to read the third book asap,Quite weird that this turned out way better than the second novel, considering that this is just a novella. Makes me want to read the third book asap, but Reel being one of the main characters again is quite repelling to be honest....more
I'm one of the millions who read Harry Potter, and loved it. I'm not one of those who bought this novel and expected a Harry Potter-like theme. The I'm one of the millions who read Harry Potter, and loved it. I'm not one of those who bought this novel and expected a Harry Potter-like theme. The synopsis is very clear that this is going to be a crime novel, so don't expect something else. J. K. Rowling even hid her identity just so that people would read this and give their honest opinion of the novel. I'm going to do that right now.
The Cuckoo's Calling is just like any other crime novel. With its main character in a financial crisis, and a huge opportunity magically appeared out of nowhere. Crime novels are bound to be cliche, if you've read quite a few already. Even watching movies and TV series would make any other crime novel seem cliche. You'll develop that natural ability to sort of guess what will happen next or who the murderer will be. Nothing is different with Cuckoo, but the characters are really good. That's all the author can give, really good characters, unless he can give a plot so mind blowing.
Strike reminds me a lot of Gibbs from NCIS. Gibbs is my favorite character of all crime novel, TV series, and movies. With that being said, I liked Strike a lot. He's not my favorite, but he was fun to read about. He's got that natural detective attitude with a touch of humor. Robin is also another character that I really liked. I'm not really sure what I liked about her though, I just found her entertaining while reading the novel. Strike and Robin are a great combination, and I'm hoping to read more of them in the next novel.
The plot is not as shocking as I wanted it to be. I got some hints in the middle of the novel of what would happen, but my guess of the ending was thankfully different. That being said, I guess this is not as cliche for me as I thought it would be. The plot is very simple, but quite entertaining nonetheless.
(view spoiler)[ The brother himself being the murderer was not as shocking as the author wanted it to be. I did guess that it would be either him or the best friend. I kind of leaned toward the best friend because she seemed nervous and secretive when Strike interviewed her. The brother was really suspicious in the middle though. A lot of instances wherein I was also sure that he was the murderer. (hide spoiler)]
A really good novel overall, and I can't wait to read the sequel. I can't believe that it took me forever to finally pick this one up from my shelf. J.K. Rowing managed to make my childhood magical, and she continues to impress me with her recent novel. [Not Casual Vacancy, as of right now, cause I dnf that boring piece of novel. Will try it out again in the future though]. Crime-Mystery-Thriller is one of my favorite genres, and this novel proved its worth. 4/5 stars, recommended for those crime-detective fans....more
Apparently this didn't win the goodreads choice award 2014. I'm not shocked, because I didn't really like this that much. It was the most appealing ofApparently this didn't win the goodreads choice award 2014. I'm not shocked, because I didn't really like this that much. It was the most appealing of the ones nominated for fiction though. That's the only reason why i read this.
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This is my first ever Murakami book, and I think it's going to be my last. I didn't hate it, but for me, there's nothing to love either. I'm gonna be honest and say that the biggest reason why I read this was because it's nominated on the goodreads choice award. I'm not entirely disappointed though, but I honestly don't see the hype on Murakami.
We have Tsukuru Tazaki, the emo main character. Abandoned by his friends in high school, he became this miserable emo kid. The reason why they left him? Well, he doesn't even know. The novel revolved around how he managed to break free from his emo-ness, but in the end, he met this girl and she made him find out the reason why.
The reason why they left him is not that bad to be honest, but I don't think its worth the read. I mean, I read the whole novel just to find out why they left him, and it's not even that great. A lot of plot holes, and it's really not that believable. Most of what happened in the middle and the latter were really unbelievable. I'm just not that impressed with Murakami, not at all.
2/5 stars. I wasn't bored while reading it, but the revelation is not that impressive enough to make me want to read more of Murakami. Die hard Murakami fans might love this though....more
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